SIR – For us grown-ups at some point in our life the health service may use a QALY.

A quality-adjusted life year (QALY) is a measure of the state of health of a person or group in which the benefits, in terms of length of life, are adjusted to reflect the quality of life.

One QALY is equal to one year of life in perfect health. QALYs are calculated by estimating the years of life remaining for a patient following a particular treatment or intervention and weighting each year with a quality of life score.

It is often measured in terms of the person’s ability to perform the activities of daily life, freedom from pain and mental disturbance. Medicines can prolong life; improve the quality of life, or both. Everyone wants to have the most effective medicines but unfortunately this means that difficult choices have to be made about what treatments can be made routinely available.

What is the equivalent of this for an unborn/newborn child? When the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) and maternity services move to Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen from Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest on August 1, who speaks for them?

Many questions have been raised recently about Equality Impact Assessments surrounding this movement of services. Questions have been asked about the “Protected Characteristic” of Pregnancy and Maternity under the Equality Act 2010.

What this really means is – is it safe and in the best interests of the patients to move the service?

In May 2014 the audit committee report to Hywel Dda Health Board informed them that “the year-end financial position of £19.225m deficit reflects the ongoing requirement for major service redesign in order to deliver the statutory break-even duty.”

So, as we all knew, this is about money and not about patients or patient care.

It beggars belief that the chair (Chris Martin) and the chief executive (Trevor Purt) of Hywel Dda Health Board can put these devastating changes in place and then up and leave their jobs at practically the same time. Who allowed this to happen? What role has the Welsh Assembly Government got in all this?

The Hywel Dda Health Board has an equality group which meets to make the decisions on SCBU, paediatrics, etc. Who are these shadowy figures who turn things upside down and fail miserably to explain why? Why not be honest and say it’s all about money and nothing else.

At some point a group of health board people must have sat down to decide, if all these changes are made to maternity services and SCBU what was the “acceptable” loss of life of moving this vital service 34 miles away. Can we have sight of this “acceptability” figure please Mr Trevor Purt/Mr Chris Martin – Oh they’ve gone haven’t they!

Mr Mark Drakeford (Health Minister for Wales), any comment from you on what price a child’s life?

I am hugely disappointed by the company’s decision and I know this will be a devastating blow for all affected workers and their families.

What is hugely important now is the availability of all possible assistance for those employees who face uncertainty and worry – and close Welsh Government liaison with the company as it moves forward in an increasingly competitive market.

Tata’s long-term future in Wales is of huge importance – both to communities and to the Welsh economy as a whole – and that is why I have questioned Labour’s First Minister on his own talks with the company over recent years.

In 2012, following a trip to meet its bosses in Mumbai, Carwyn Jones announced an £800m Tata investment in Port Talbot that he said would “protect and enhance steelmaking jobs” at the site.

This investment was “designed to secure the future of Port Talbot, in particular, over the next five years”, said Mr Jones. The Labour leader’s words grabbed headlines – and rightly so. This was hugely encouraging news.

However, some of the announcements we have heard from Tata will raise questions over the First Minister’s knowledge – and his very public pronouncement.

He has dismissed my concerns within the Assembly chamber – but I remain hopeful that he will explain his previous promises in due course.

Hollow commitments like this do not build faith that the Welsh Labour Government can work effectively with Tata – or secure a future for those workers who need it.

Byron Davies

Assembly Member for South Wales West

Here are some truly great Welsh people

SIR – Some very notable Welsh historical figures were omitted from your list of “The Top 50 Greatest Welsh People”. Professor JDR Thomas does not mention them either.

It must be remembered that Wales and Welsh derive from “Wealas”, the German or Anglo-Saxon word for the British, who inhabited most of Britain during the Roman occupation and for 1,000 years before the English arrived in Britain from their native Germany in the 5th century.

Therefore, the history of the Welsh people is nowhere near confined to this little patch west of Offa’s Dyke!

Bearing that in mind , how about the following truly important Welsh people, without whom there would be no “Wales” or “Welsh”:

Buddug , known to the Romans as Boudicca, who defied the might of Rome in what is now Essex. Her Welsh name “Buddug” [Bith-ig] gives us the Welsh word “buddugoliaeth” for “victory”. Two thousand years on, Buddug, is still a popular girl’s name in West Wales. I don’t see many Ethelreds in England these days!

Caradog , or Caractacus , leader of the Silurians , who also fought off the Romans. He was taken in chains to Rome, but freed on account of his bravery.

The iconic Arthur, not a king but a general or “war-leader” who led the fight against invading Anglo-Saxons throughout Britain.

Aneirin, who composed the superbly alliterative, strictly metric poetry called Y Gododdin around AD 600 in the Welsh-speaking kingdom of Mynyddog Mwynfawr in Din Eidin, now known as Edinburgh. Where is the recognition for Y Gododdin as truly British historic poetry? There is enough said about the imported Germanic Beowulf that arrived in Britain centuries later, and is in a totally foreign tongue for today’s English speakers.

Cunedda Wledig, who came south from Gododdin (later Edinburgh) with his nine sons to drive the Irish invaders out of North Wales – otherwise we may well be speaking Gaelic and not Welsh today! One son, Ceredig, gave his name to this land west of the Teifi and south of the Dyfi – Ceredigion. Another, Meirion, gave his name to Meirionydd.

Llywelyn Fawr – Llywelyn the Great . One of our greatest kings.

Lord Rhys – Arglwydd Rhys – A recorded ancestor of mine who established the first eisteddfod in Cardigan Castle in 1176.

Henry VII, who started the Tudor dynasty . He was from the Tudors of Pen y Mynydd, Anglesey, who also gave us William Penn, after whom Pennsylvania is named.

Saint David – Dewi Sant. Good grief, our patron saint has been beaten out of sight by a Cardiff Norwegian, Roald Dahl, and Shirley Bassey!

And where is Saunders Lewis? By the way, why on earth are showbiz personalities and sports people being mixed with great historical figures?

Lyn James Jenkins

Gwbert, Aberteifi

All English signs should be removed

SIR – Plaid Glyndwr welcomes the Welsh Government’s proposal for signs to be designed so the Welsh is read first; however, we believe a more positive step would be to have all English signs removed.

How hard would it be for English-speaking residents of a particular Welsh town to learn its Welsh name? For example, delete all Fishguard signs and promote the Abergwaun signs.

Why should we help to colonise our nation by giving status to a foreign language; no other country does it to such an extent as Cymru, particularly England.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) was represented officially before the courts in the Pretty and Purdy cases and although the Supreme Court has rejected this Nicklinson appeal in general, several Supreme Court justices have encouraged and even pressured Parliament to pass Lord Falconer’s Bill.

The recent lessons from places like Holland and Belgium are clear: once the medical profession is given power to kill certain adult patients the “dyke is breached”, and a small trickle of killings grows to encompass more people who, whether able to consent or not, are deemed to be “life unworthy of life”.